Thomas Chittenden

Thomas Chittenden (6 January 1730-25 August 1797) was President of the Vermont Republic from 1778 to 1789 (succeeding Moses Robinson) and from 1790 to 4 March 1791 (succeeding Robinson) and Governor of Vermont from October 1790 to 25 August 1797 (preceding Paul Brigham).

Biography
Thomas Chittenden was born in East Guilford, Connecticut in 1730, and he served as a justice of the peace in Salisbury and a member of the Colonial Assembly from 1765 to 1769. He moved to Vermont in 1774, founding the town of Williston. In 1778, he became the first President of the Vermont Republic, and, after the United States refused to admit Vermont to the union, he negotiated with Great Britain about the possibility of establishing Vermont as a British province as a part of Canada. In 1791, the USA decided to admit Vermont to the union, and Chittenden served as its first Governor from 1790 until he died in 1797.